


1000 Years in the Cold-Bright Moon

by chibiotaku4life



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-05 22:17:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15180551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chibiotaku4life/pseuds/chibiotaku4life
Summary: We all know that Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the moon for a thousand years, and her sister with her. But what happened while they were up there? Short fic about the two ponies' imprisonment on the moon.





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

“I will rule in eternal night!” Luna heard Nightmare Moon say in her voice. She could feel the burning-cold triumph rising in the mare, as her deathly, airless aura swirled around her in a purple cloud.

She looked down on her sister with grief and remorse. She had just wanted to be appreciated and loved. She had never meant for it to go this far.

_ Shut up, pony _ , Nightmare Moon snapped, and she quailed in fear. She gasped desperately at the sweet, warm night air that the mare’s momentary lapse had let in, knowing it could be her last. Nightmare Moon didn’t need to breathe, and she was slowly starving the young pony possessed by and imprisoned within her. 

“Sister, please,” Celestia gasped, pushing against the aura around Luna with her own aura of light.

Nightmare laughed maniacally. “Your sister is  _ dead,  _ fool. No one ever escapes from Nightmare Moon. She will be in my clutches forever!”

“No!” Celestia cried, and in that moment Nightmare slammed downwards into her and knocked her out of the sky.

Celestia fell through a window of stained glass and collapsed, lying prone on the hard stone ground of the old castle cathedral. Her side was rent with jagged, bleeding wounds from Nightmare’s twisted, barbed horn.

“Luna,” she whimpered. “Please. I will save you.”

“No!” Luna burst out with despair, and the mare’s lips just barely trembled. “I’m too far gone. Save our kingdom!”

“Shut it!” Nightmare hissed, out loud, and in that infinitesimal moment Luna screamed out with all her strength, “Sis, save our people.”

Celestia looked up and Luna saw her own despair mirrored in her sister’s eyes. Then the dim glow of a new resolve entered her eyes.

A glow emanated from Celestia’s horn, and from the darkness behind her emerged six glowing gemstones in different colors. They swirled around her as she staggered to her feet.

“The elements of harmony?” Nightmare scoffed. “Those are just an old mare’s tale.” But hope rose within Luna as she felt the thin thread of panic working through Nightmare.

Celestia looked up with the rage of regret in her eyes. “So - were -  _ you _ !” she shouted, and a blinding rainbow exploded towards the both of them.

“No!” Nightmare Moon cried with pure, freezing rage. Unable to release it, the feeling swirled within her and attacked the only thing it could find: Luna.

Luna felt herself detach, floating, even as they sped upwards towards the distant moon. Cradled in benevolent darkness, she fell away into the void as they slowed and landed on the dark side of a world of infinite cold.


	2. Chapter One: The First Days

When Luna awoke, she couldn’t sense anything. She couldn’t see, or hear, of feel, or even smell anything. She tried to breathe in, and then she did feel one thing: pain. Pain, strong enough to break her apart, shattering her like a hoof through thin ice.

Then came the cold. Piercing, deeper than her bones, deeper than even her soul, to the very core of her being, so that she knew she could never be warm again.

And with sensation came control. She opened her eyes, stretched her limbs, and screamed.

“Ah, child, you are awake,” echoed a dull, emotionless voice all around her, drowning out her scream.

Shivering, Luna darted her head around, terrified.

“Oh, relax,” the voice said, sounding almost bored. “It’s just me, Nightmare Moon. It seems exile has granted me my own form.”

Over the pitted lunar horizon the dark pony appeared, her hair streaming around her though the atmosphere was absolutely motionless.

As Nightmare moved closer and saw Luna lying on the ground, her eyes narrowed with hatred.

“You,” she hissed. “It’s your fault I’m here.” Luna saw her raise her horn to summon magic and cowered, trembling.

“Huh?” Confusion entered Nightmare’s voice, and Luna risked a glance up. Her horn wasn’t glowing. No magic was coming to her.

Luna almost cried with relief. She would run away, as she always had done. With a monumental effort, she staggered to her feet and stumbled into a shaky gallop.

“Come back here, child,” Nightmare cried, with the sound of a star shattering. But Luna was already gone, disappeared into a deep, labyrinthine hole, where the darkness enshrouded her and protected her feeble life.

At last she collapsed, gasping for breath. She could hear Nightmare’s voice echoing distantly, but knew that she was safe for now. 

_ How am I even alive?  _ she wondered despondently, her throat tightening.  _ I shouldn’t be alive. Only evil things like Nightmare Moon can survive here. I guess I really am evil. _

Tears sprang to her eyes.  _ Oh, Tia,  _ she thought.  _ How could I do this to you. I hurt you. I made you banish your own sister. We’ll be apart for a thousand years. Already I miss you. How can I go on without you, big sister? I need you. _

_ Please don’t miss me,  _ she thought desperately.  _ Please don’t regret anything. This is my fault. I deserve this, but you don’t. Tia, please just be okay. _

She was sobbing now, overcome with a loneliness that was both familiar and more powerful than she had ever before known.

“Lu-lu,” came a sing-song voice, nearer than she expected. “Come out and play with me.” Nightmare was in the tunnels. Tia couldn’t protect her here, Luna realized. She’d have to fend for herself.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, taking unsteady breaths as she called on the magic deep inside of her. She was shocked to find that it responded, flowing outwards and concentrating in her horn, where a glow ignited.

“You little brat,” Nightmare gasped, right behind her. Luna yelped but manage to maintain her concentration.

A ripple of light spread out as Luna released the Misguidance Spell. It was the most powerful one she could manage at the moment that would keep Nightmare away from her.

“Wha - ?” Nightmare said, and Luna turned and fled deeper into the tunnels.

As she finally slowed, Luna could sense, somehow, that one day had passed and the night had begun. She stumbled and fell, and found she did not have the strength to get up again. She lay there, through one day and night, then another, and another. Finally, utterly exhausted, she fell into a wary, uneasy sleep.

When she woke, the spell had worn off. She knew because Nightmare was leaning over her, grinning a sharp-toothed, evil grin.

She yelped, springing backwards. “So you can use magic, but I can’t,” Nightmare hissed, leering. “Just try and pull that on me again, pony.”

Frightened, Luna slowly started to back away, as Nightmare Moon advanced upon her.

“Don’t think you can get away,” Nightmare spat. “I will make these thousand years a living  _ hell _ for you.”

Luna drew upon her magic, and Nightmare’s grin grew wider. Luna felt a sudden sharp pain in her horn, and gasped. Nightmare had lowered her head and was siphoning Luna’s magic away from her. Luna desperately tried to cut off the flow of magic, but by the time she could, Nightmare’s horn was glowing brilliantly.

“You forget, we are connected - you and I,” Nightmare snarled. “But in this body, I can do - this!” and she shot a bolt of lightning from her horn directly at Luna.

Luna had no time to dodge. It hit her square in the chest, blasting her back into the cavern wall and spidering through her veins with burning fury. She screamed with pain and without thinking, hurtled the bolt back through her horn at Nightmare Moon. It hit her and she screamed, too; an unearthly, godforsaken sound. Luna tried to run but found she could not move. She stared, terrified, as Nightmare dragged herself up.

“So, child,” she breathed sinisterly. ‘It is to be a battle for your magic. It shouldn’t be too hard to possess you again.”

“No,” Luna cried, staggering to her feet as she realized: this was something from which she could not run. She would have to fight.


End file.
